50. At the 15th Session held in March 1994, it was decided to combine all the communications filed against
Mauritania.
51. From that date, the procedure for the present communication became identical to that for the
above-mentioned communication 54/91.
52. At the 22nd Session held in Banjul, from 2-11 November 1997, the representative of Mauritania pointed
out that his government was in the process of considering the mission report of the Commission and
expected to have its observations ready before the 23rd Session. The Commission thus decided to defer
consideration of all the communications filed against Mauritania to its following session, while bearing in
mind that they had been pending before the Commission for quite a long time now.
53. At the 23rd Session held in Banjul (The Gambia), from 20-29th April 1998, the Commission decided to
combine it with the procedure ongoing for communications 164/97 to 196/97 as well as communication
210/98. In addition, three Notes Verbales were addressed on 25th April and 9th and 10th July 1998,
respectively, to the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to inquire about the government's reaction. They
have remained without reply to date.
54. Communications 164/97-196/97 allege that between September and December 1990, there was a
wave of arrests in Mauritania directed at specific sectors of the population. Those arrested were mostly
military men and public servants belonging to the Hal-Pulaar ethnic group and other ethnic groups from the
South of the country. Sometime after this wave of arrests, the government announced, without providing
any proof, that there had been an attempted coup d'état.
55. The accused were never brought before a court of law; according to communications 164/97-196/97,
about a dozen of the accused were tortured and executed in the military camps of Inal, J'réida, Tiguint and
Aleg between November and December 1990. Most remarkably, most of the communications allege that
the victims were beaten to death.
56. The widows and mothers behind the present communications, have previously brought their complaints
before the Mauritanian national authorities, both civilian and military, in particular the Minister of Interior, the
head of the national army, the National Assembly, the Senate, the Special Court of Justice, the Nouakchott
Criminal Court, the President and the Minister of National Defence. In all these cases they were either
ignored or chased away.
57. On 14th June 1993, the Mauritanian government issued an enactment, No. 023 93, granting amnesty to
those accused of perpetrating the series of murders for which the beneficiaries of the victims are hereby
claiming compensation of injuries suffered.
Provisions of the Charter alleged to have been violated
58. The communications allege a series of grave and massive violations of Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16 and
26 of the African Charter.
Procedure**
59. Communications 164/97-196/97 were received by the Secretariat in April 1997. The beneficiaries of the
alleged victims submitted them all.
60. On 6th October 1997, the Secretariat received a Note Verbale dated the 1st of the same month, with
reference number 075/MAEC communicating the Mauritanian government's reaction to the accusations
made against it. The gist was that Mauritania called on the Commission not to be seized of the said
communications for the reason that they "deal with a naturally deplorable, but peculiar and exceptional
situation [...] that has in any case since been surmounted... ".
61. On 9th October 1997, the Secretariat acknowledged receipt of the said note, pointing out that the fact
that the Mauritanian state had paid compensation to the beneficiaries of the victim of the alleged violations
(which are in any case not denied by the State) cannot invalidate the Commission's deliberations.
62. At the 23rd Session, the Commission adjudged on the admissibility of the communications and decided
to combine the procedure followed for the present communications with those for communications 54/91,
61/91, 96/93, 98/93, 196/97 and 210/98. The Commission referred the dossiers for consideration as to the
merits at its 24th Session.
63. Communication 210/98 was submitted by the Association mauritanienne des droits de l'Homme
(AMDH, Mauritanian Human Rights Association), on behalf of the Collectif des rescapés, anciens détenus
civils torturés (CRADPOCIT, Collective of Survivors, Ex-Civilian Detainees and the Tortured), against
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